Rays 5, Astros 1: Shields mows down Astros, tosses three-hitter

Tampa Bay Rays righty James Shields showed up Friday night at Minute Maid Park ready, willing and more than able to carve up the Astros lineup. Astros lefthander Wandy Rodriguez was only a danger to himself — ready, willing, but uncharacteristically unable to put his team in a position to win.

Shields dominated the Astros with dazzling command of his fastball and changeup, sprinkling in the occasional curveball for variety’s sake and throwing a three-hitter in a 5-1 Rays victory.

A crowd of 26,682 saw Shields put away the Astros in 106 pitches to become the fourth pitcher in the past five seasons to toss a complete game in three consecutive starts. Shields (8-4) walked one and struck out nine in going the distance a major league-leading sixth time — five more than the Astros staff combined — and lowering his ERA to 2.29.

“He was spotting every pitch, throwing off-speed for strikes,” said Astros center fielder Michael Bourn, whose fourth-inning single was the Astros’ first hit. “He made it tough on us. It wasn’t like we were just out of whack. He was just on.”

So much for a nail-biting encounter between the righthander with the No. 3 ERA in the American League and the lefthander with the No. 8 ERA in the National League. The Rays worked over Rodriguez like few teams have in the past 12 months, accumulating five runs on six hits over six innings.

Rare outing for Wandy

Back-to-back home runs by Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton polished off a four-run rally in the third inning off Rodriguez (5-4), who had turned in quality starts in 26 of his previous 30 outings.

The Rays did all their damage after catcher J.R. Towles left with an injury during a third inning that started with strikeouts by Elliot Johnson and Shields. A foul tip hit Towles in the mask in the course of the latter strikeout, forcing his exit with an 11-stitch cut on his chin.

Four batters later, the Rays had four runs.

“I lost my concentration,” said Rodriguez, who is 13-6 in his past 31 starts dating to last June 24 and has the third-best ERA in the majors (2.52) over that span. “I think when they put in (Carlos) Corporan, I missed my location. Corporan has a low zone, a (compact) zone; Towles is more open.

“That’s no excuse. I missed my location.”

Sean Rodriguez singled on a 1-2 pitch for the first Rays hit, stole second, and scored on a single to right by former Astros farmhand Ben Zobrist. Longoria crushed the next pitch — a low fastball down the middle — for a home run to left-center field. Four pitches later, Upton lofted a fastball to the front of the Crawford Boxes in left to make it 4-0.

“You get in a situation where you think these guys are major league pitchers and they’re going to be able to adjust,” Astros manager Brad Mills said. “You’ve got to find some way to get back locked in. It was really interesting because everything happened so quickly.”

Almost a shutout

Shields, for his part, was locked in with a loaded arsenal of pitches. The Astros didn’t get a ball out of the infield the first three innings and had only one hit entering the seventh. Their only run came when Brett Wallace reached on a two-out infield single in the seventh and scored on Chris Johnson’s double to Tal’s Hill in center.

“He was on his game, that’s for sure,” Johnson said. “With the quality of stuff he’s got, it’s tough to get stuff going.”

The Astros did break Shields’ streak of 24 innings without allowing an earned run. He is the first pitcher to go the distance six times by the 76-game mark since Toronto’s Pat Hentgen in 1997.

“This guy has good stuff,” Rodriguez said. “The ball, when I tried to hit it, the ball comes and it’s like, `Let me kill it,’ and then it goes like that …”

Rodriguez darted his right hand quickly, as if emulating the ball disappearing.

“Not much chance for contact,” Rodriguez said, shaking his head in professional admiration. “Very good pitcher.”